Serial killers are not new; there have been many accounts of serial killers in past ages and in many different places around the world, so it's not just a part of one unique nation or time period. For example, one of the earliest recorded cases of serial murder was Locusta of Galt of the Roman Empire, who preferred the method of poison and was highly rewarded. But not enough information was recorded about her as to know how many people she killed and the span of years the killings took place. And there has been some discussion as to whether or not people like Lacousta were "serial killers", since by modern standards, the definition is different. But the intent to kill is there. The most typical example of the modern day Serial killer is "Jack …show more content…
The condition is very hard to spot and is completely untreatable if advanced. That being said it is entirely possible to prevent someone with a disposition of being a psychopath to convert in to a full grade psychopath. People with this condition exhibit lack of emotions or very shallow ones. Emotions such as shame, guilt and embarrassment aren’t present in the minds of these individuals. They tend to blame their faults on others, a process which is called "blame externalization". They show a lack of empathy towards any living creature which makes them be very "coldhearted", they tend to be selfish, egocentric, and extremely overconfident. But what really makes these individuals dangerous is that those traits combines can make a human being overly aggressive, violent and impulsive. They are smart and have are incredibly good at blending in with society and are very adept liars, meaning they can lie with all sense of truth in their words. So they appear to be completely normal and in many cases very charming and outgoing. All that combined with a sense of complete dominance makes the perfect killer. These are all the conditions needed to fill the lis of criteria as to what makes a psychopath, Dr. William Hirstein on psychologytoday.com says: " The current approach to defining sociopathy and the related concepts is to use a list of criteria. The first such list was developed by Hervey Cleckley (1941), who is known as the first …show more content…
Gein was very obsessed with his mother and that led him to try to actually be his mother by attempting to create a leather suit out of human skin that resembled his deceased mother. But every killer has a different motivation and purpose, but they all follow a sort of pattern and reasoning. Some, like Gein seek to fulfill some sort of fantasy by projecting and image of what they desire onto a victim. Others seek power or vengeance, like Ted Bundy who chose women who resembled college girlfriend that broke up with to commit heinous murders. Some seek to force their own sense of justice by killing people who violate it, like the case of Yoo Young-Chul, a South Korean man who only targeted prostitutes and old rich men; he despised the rich for being selfish and prostitutes for being impure. Some kill for religious beliefs, in many cases, joining cults that proclaim murder is just, natural or that people who are impure deserve to die or to be freed from some kind of suffering. Others kill to fulfill some kind of sexual fantasy by raping the victim, some while alive like John Wayne Gacy, better known as the killer clown, who rapped and killed 33 boys in his home in Chicago Illinois and others committing necrophilia, the act of having sexual relations with dead bodies. What all serial killers have in common is that they kill for specific reasons, not just on a whim, although in some cases